Império Novo - An Axis Portugal AAR

[Rensslaer]

This forum is blossoming today! An Axis Portugal is certainly going to be an interesting game! I'll be following this.

Thanks, and welcome, Myth! It's going to be challenging. Expecially in the late game, but potentially early on too.

An Axis Portugal is going to be quite a challenge... though you seem to have precise ideas of what you're going to do!

Something tells me we have here the roots of the first Epic AAR for HoI3...

Thanks! And welcome! I have tried some of this in beta, though things may have completely changed since then. We'll see. I don't know about epic. If it's successfuly, then it might be epic.

Oh man this is a great day! So many awesome AARs getting off the ground floor and I'm able to read them all!

Great to have you along, Jorath! Welcome!

Will look forward to more

Welcome, Stnylan! Great to have you along, my friend! Welcome.

What about the Milan AAR?

Welcome, Enewald! Sforza!!! will continue. I just need to balance my time. The gameplay is about 100 years forward of the game, so I may not even need to play for a few months!

A fascinating start for sure! I'm eager to see where you can take the New Empire

Thanks! And welcome, English Patriot! Great to have you along!

Here's take three (or four?) of following a Rensselaer AAR... Will try to follow along, both for the story developments and to crib anything I can about playing HOI3.

Not making any promises, though, given my past track record and your annoying () tendency to update like a runaway train.

Rightly or wrongly, I suspect that playing as a smaller country will be a good way to learn the ropes (I'll probably play a game as Republican Spain first myself), so I'm very interested to learn the advantages (presumably less complexity) and drawbacks of playing a second-tier nation.

Welcome, Stuyvesant! Well, you only stopped reading Castles because I stopped writing it, so that's not your fault. Looking forward to your comments! No runaway trains this time -- I've got too much to do for that.

Sweet! A new Renss AAR, and I am loving the country selection already. Unique and should offer a great guide for others wanting play outside the "big boys." Good luck. You know I'll be following.

Thanks, Coz! And welcome! I'm going to try to catch up on The Longest Night -- hoping to have some reading time soon. I've already started reading a couple of HOI 2 AARs, reading maybe a couple scenes a week and hoping I'll get there...

Hmm... A couple of targets come to mind, but we shall see in due time whether you take them on.

There's the matter of your existing African possessions - a lot of strategizing could happen regarding them. There are the Azores and Macau - what use can one make of them? And there are a few countries on or near your borders you usually don't single out for invasion in "regular" games.

Well, Portugal has as many vulnerabilities as it does opportunities, so you can be sure I'll be working very hard on handling both!

Looking very good.

Mas por acaso não trocaste aí uma letra? Devia ser Império e não Impéria.

Thanks, Cromelex, and welcome! Thanks for your help! I figured out what you meant, despite my inability to read Portuguese. I'm sadly reliant upon Google Translate! If you want a good laugh, plug what you wrote above into Google Translate!

This looks great! I loved "Fire Warms the Northern Lands" because of its great character writing. From how the first post looks, Imperia Novo will be a very good read too. Let's see who else is going to join the party.

Sadly, we will not be with the characters for such a long time we were in the Victorian Era, but we should meet them in more interesting circumstances. Will you start in '36 (or even in '32) or will you jump right into the action in '39?

Also, I am glad that you will play honest an without much practice - changing fates make a more interesting story than an unopposed world conquest. So, good luck!

By the way, if you are looking for a good read to get into the mood for Salazar Portugal, I would suggest "Night train to Lisbon" by Pascal Mercier, though I cannot vouch for the translation into English.

Welcome, Blue Angel! Thanks for your kind words about Fire Warms! Still my favorite AAR to date, and I think my best writing (maybe Castles was better written as a whole, but Fire Warms probably had better individual scenes). I'll be starting in 1936 (at least once I get my boxed game) -- this dramatic scene is just really to "set the scene", and won't actually happen in the story until much later. These may be the characters we stick with through the whole AAR, which would mean good character development, but I'm not sure yet. Looked up Night Train -- it looks good from my first glimpse at it, but I can't find it in audiobook, which is often a prerequisite for me to read anything (I drive alot!). I'll see if I can read it at some point.

This sounds interesting, I'll be watching this. I'm hoping you run into trouble, not because I want you to fail, but it will mean HOI3 is truly difficult, and it makes a more interesting AAR. But Good Luck anyway!

Thanks, Gen.Hannibal, and welcome! I'll definitely run into trouble. Otherwise, it wouldn't be any fun! It's a matter of how I handle the trouble.

I look forward to this AAR! BTW, as Cromelex mentioned in Portuguese, it's not Impéria, it's Império. Impéria Novo makes no sense at all in Portuguese.

Welcome, UmOceano! Thanks for your e-mail/PM and your offer of help! I have to admit, I probably do not have time to get that detailed with this. I generally throw in a word or two of the native language from time to time, but not very often. I may check with you on those.

I'll follow this one as I have followed all your others, Renss...

Thanks, Rhynoclemmis! Welcome -- great to have you along!

F yeah! Another Rensslaer aar!

Welcome, Deamon! I'm glad you're looking forward to it!

The honor is all mine.

Your gameplay goals are just as interesting as your story premise. I'm very interested to see how far you can go as a minor in HOI3 and what new options/limitations are presented by the engine. I think my first game (once I get my copy tomorrow) will probably be as a mid-sized minor. Incidentally, this is the 2nd game you've influenced to by earlier than I'd planned. Paradox should put you on commission!

Excellent news! Well, take it from someone who's been playing it for months -- it's a great game. Maybe some "issues" here and there, but they're getting fixed. You'll have fun.

go Portugas

our litttle old brothers

Welcome, Nigo! Glad to have the Brazillian contingent along! I'm not sure yet how I'll handle Brazil. We'll have to see.

A Portugal AAR, nice.

I have some doubts on how successful can you be in this game (sorry ). The British navy is vastly superior to your own. And when the US enters the war you shouldn't have a chance...

Having said so, I look forward to watching you prove me wrong

What areas of expansion are you looking at? Taking all Africa from the UK? Low infra provinces everywhere...

But please, do avenge Portugal of the humilliation from the Ultimatum Pink Map

Welcome, Ezzezze! Glad to have so many Portuguese interested! I'm actually used to handling "naval inferiority" situations, and as for the USA... Well, I have no idea, but I'm hoping Portugal will be lots stronger by the time that even gets to be an issue, and will have larger allies to help me.

Great to see a portuguese AAR. I will obviously follow this one although it will spoil a little my game as Portugal when I´ll get HOI3.

Good luck, as Ezzezze said it won´t be easy, but i suppose you know that better than us...

Welcome, Mcc! I'm actually not sure how long it might be before I can get a release copy of the game (I'm using beta now), so you may beat me!

Looking forward to see how minor countries fare on HoI3.

I suspect they'll be much more pleasant to play, now that tech teams are gone, resource output can be aided by research and allied help can be more relevant with production licensing.

*subscribed*

Thanks, Hito1, and welcome! Minors are still fun -- I've played several in beta. There may be some v1.1 issues, but once that's sorted out (or patched "under the table") I'm sure it'll be fine.

Go Portugal, remember those British xxxx used to be your allies and then decided you were not that cool anymore... Payback time?

Athe, welcome! Glad to have you along - please do watch your language, though. I've seen HOI 2 games where Portugal joined the Allies, and they didn't seem to do too well. In order to really "grow beyond itself" I think Portugal needs to be an aggressive power, so...

A RENSSLAER HOI3 AAR! Count me in! (Could you get round to updating Sforza at some point? :P)

Yes, Sforza.... Welcome, Lord Strange!

I'm not sure if you're aware of it but from the 32 referendum, onward the person which ran Portugal's destiny's wasn't the President of the Republic (Head of State) but the "President of the Council" (Head of Government) António Oliveira Salazar.

I'll be looking forward to this, as a fellow Portuguese!

Welcome, Jolt! I'll go back and correct the information about Salazar. I think I mentioned somewhere that I get those two confused, and I was thinking about Salazar when I wrote Carmona. Carmona was the old professor, yes?

oooh nice. this will be interesting, a good read and very instructive! subscribed!

Thanks, Soulitaire! Welcome!

Love the idea! When (if) I get this game I plan on doing something similar with Ireland. Let's hope Portugal can win because if not what chance does a fascist emerald isle have?

Wow. Ireland would be tough! You'd have to figure some way of neutralizing Britain, or keeping them occupied, so they don't just march on in on you... Wow. Welcome!

Looking forward to this, count me as a reader. Nice intro.

Thanks, and glad you enjoyed the intro! Believe it or not, the license building led me to the FW 200, which led me to a search for pictures, and the picture at the top of the AAR led me to this scene. Everything else fell into place from there. Welcome!

Nice to see an AAR based around a non-power that a lot of people will probably ignore written so early after HOI III's release. It looks good so far, i'll be following this.

To Gibraltar!, then Pretoria!, then Madagascar and after that, Brasillia! don't let the fact it won't be built for another 20 years stop the mighty Portuguese.

Thanks, TanZhang, and welcome! I think Gibraltar will have to wait until I'm stronger (IF I'm stronger). But there's lots of other stuff to work on until then!

Talk about some wide-varying possibilities... I hope for you it's the latter!

Hadn't found the time to keep up with your other AAR's, but I will try to do my best with this one.

Thanks! Welcome, Berrrie! The good news is... I got the raise. Some friends got laid off, though, so please pray for them. This isn't a good time to be laid off!

Very glad to finally get in as one of your AARs in beginning, Rennslaer! I'll be watching.

Welcome, TheHyphenated1! When we chatted the other day, I didn't remember that I wasn't done with your alternative 1936 Eben Emael scenes, and when I came back to the story they almost lost! Then there was much more excitement, and I've finally finished to the German victory. Exciting stuff!

Agree avenge Portugal and our people march against the britons! And reconquer our rebellious serfs in Brazil and Asia. Portugal do minho a timor!

Welcome, Colonel General! I don't know what I'll be able to do against Britain directly, but we'll see... I plan to have some allies to take care of the heavy lifting. I do hope they can do so!

And to wrap up.... Yes, we'll start in 1936 with a buildup intended to place us in a position to make moves on the world scene to some limited extent, and then to tag along with the Axis in order to get the protection that might offer. It could totally backfire, and I may have to try it again. But if it does so, I'm sure we'll all learn lots from the process!

Thanks again to everybody for showing up! I'll begin working on stuff soon.

Rensslaer

[Third Prophecy]

Rensslaer, good to see another epic tale in the works! Will be watching!

[bpscool]

subscribed... i'm interested in what you will do as portugal since you did an amazing job with the manual and the guide!

[Fontan]

I'll be watching this AAR closely! I've always enjoyed playing as minors on HoI2 and will probably do it as well on HoI3, when I get around to playing it.

And the introductory scene, very good indeed. Certainly made a very nice first impression.

I'm reading the manual right now, excellent work you've done on it!

[th3freakie]

Subscribing in hopes of seeing more. And the "old Professor" was Salazar, not so old a man in the 1930s. Carmona was a General.

I did try a Portugal game in HoI2 once, but it took me to 1942 to build my first Heavy Cruiser, so it was not tremendously fun

[Pal]

Subscribed. I also enjoyed reading Sforza!!! so I sure hope you will continue that one, too. And don't forget you beta-duties on HoI3!!!

[Ringelnatz]

Yes yes, I hoped for a new experimental nerve-racking Rensslaer AAR, and there it is!

[aldriq]

Congratulations on your pay rise! And good luck with Portugal, I expect it won't be easy. I love the premise of the AAR and the potential of the story, it is in fact the first ever non-EU AAR I subscribe to. So I've just showcased it to make sure it lives up to its promise Congratulations Rensslaer!

[WhisperingDeath]

How can I pass this one up?! I think that I cannot! I have not gone to purchase this game yet (I'm still enjoying too many of the old ones and they still haven't found a way to make a 25 hour day) but I will be using this AAR as a barometer. No pressure!

[Maj. von Mauser]

This looks to be a good AAR.

I always liked Portugal for some reason. I loved playing it in 1914, sending my men into the trenches with the Allies.

I liked it in HoI2 aswell, but didn't play it as much.

[ColossusCrusher]

I'll be reading this too. Good luck!

[Rensslaer]

I DO apologize for the delay!

I don't actually have a non-beta copy of the game yet. Hoping to get one in the next few days.

I'm also taking my son to Iowa for college, so I'll be out of contact for at least a good portion of the next couple of days. I'm also still trying to finish this darned Strategy Guide Supplement, which means I need to spend some time intensively checking out different scenarios and doing combat testing, etc.

But I appreciate the interest, and thank you Aldriq, for your awarding me the AAR Showcase award! I very much appreciate it!

Rensslaer

[Director]

An Axis Portugal is going to be full of opportunities for action - and it is going to be dangerously exposed to the Allies. Knowing you, I think we can anticipate, shall we say, an 'interesting' time in the Chinese sense. As you said earlier, "Well, Portugal has as many vulnerabilities as it does opportunities, so you can be sure I'll be working very hard on handling both!" it only remains to see if Portugal has the strength to turn its geography from a liability to an asset.

One thing I missed is your intentions regarding Spain. I apologize if you've already covered this.

[Merrick Chance']

Are you going to intervene in the SCW?

Good luck, anyhow.

[Rensslaer]

One thing I missed is your intentions regarding Spain. I apologize if you've already covered this.

Aha!

I've been vague regarding Spain because HOI 3 makes it very hard to get involved in wars, early on. I'm not yet convinced that I'll have the power to involve myself in Spain before the civil war is over, and so...

I'll try, but I'm not confident it'll fly.

Great to have you, Director! Welcome!

Rensslaer

[Slaughter]

This AAR has great potential of awesonemness. will keep reading.

Also: Would't it be Novo Império? Unless they have some weird way of saying Novo Império in Portugal, that's how its supposed to be typed.

[th3freakie]

This AAR has great potential of awesonemness. will keep reading.

Also: Would't it be Novo Império? Unless they have some weird way of saying Novo Império in Portugal, that's how its supposed to be typed.

Both ways work, and Império Novo matches "Estado Novo", with the added beenfit of sounding very pompous.

[Icy]

Nice, i was looking into starting a game myself as Portugal to learn the game playing with a minor. I'll use this AAR as some kind of tutorial

[VILenin]

Normally I might poke fun at an AAR that's won the showcase without actually starting (or even owning!) the game yet, but I'll refrain for three reasons.

1) You're circumstances understandably make you very busy. I hope things work out best for you with your jobs.

2) Since you've yet to disappoint with your past AARs, you'll undoubtedly earn a showcase sooner or later anyway, might as well get the message out to everyone now.

and 3) Your responses to feedback are so large and comprehensive, and must correspondingly time consuming, that they practically count as updates in their own right!

Best of luck to your son at college, be he returning or first year, and I hope the two of you have a pleasant trip up.

[Mædhric]

The premises of this sound very interesting (both story- and gameplay-wise), so I'll be following this one. Also I got a soft spot for Portugal Good luck on your endeavour!